Junzi

A junzi ( or "Son of the Vassal, or Monarch") is a Chinese philosophical term often translated as "gentleman," "superior person", or "noble man." The term is frequently translated as "gentleman", since the characters are overtly gendered. However, in recent years, scholars have been using the term without the gender component, and translate the term as "distinguished person", "moral person", and so on. The characters 君子 were employed by both the Duke Wen of Zhou in the "Classic of Changes" 易經 (I-ching) and Confucius in his works to describe the ideal man. In Confucianism, the ideal personality is the 聖 shèng , translated as saint or sage. However, sagehood is hard to attain and so Confucius used the noun junzi, respectable person, which more individuals could achieve. Junzi acts according to proper conduct (禮 lǐ or li) to achieve 和 hé or he, harmony, which Confucianism maintains should rule the home, society, and the empire. Li primarily has to do with social expectations, both in terms of the formal behavior required during religious rites and imperial ceremonies and proper conduct in human relationships. Confucius also considered a junzi to be someone who embodies humanity – one who possesses a totality of the highest human qualities. The philosopher called this a person who embodies the concept of 仁 rén and outlined specific qualities, which were recorded by his disciples in the Analects. Many of these were used as Chinese proverbs (諺語 yàn yǔ ). An example is 君子成人之美 jūn zǐ chéng rén zhī měi, which figuratively means "A respectable person [always helps] others in their needs". Zhu Xi defined a junzi as second only to the sage. Junzi has many characteristics. A junzi can live with poverty; a junzi does more and speaks less. A junzi is loyal, obedient and knowledgeable. A junzi disciplines himself. Among these, 仁 ren is at the core of a junzi.zh As the potential leader of a nation and country, the son of the ruler is raised to express superior ethical and moral positions while gaining inner peace through virtue.